Controverse“Angela
Micol va partir à l’assaut de ces monticules pour vérifier qu'il s'agit
bien de pyramides. Pour l’instant, les archéologues examinent les
images qu'elle a compilées avant d'entamer des fouilles plus
approfondies. Mais déjà, la découverte crée la controverse. Selon
certains chercheurs, ces monticules ont des structures rappelant les
pyramides de la 13e dynastie qui couvre la période de - 1801 à 1786.
Pour d'autres, il est encore prématuré d'évoquer une découverte
historique. "Il y a une chance infime qu'une ou deux de ces formes soient des pyramides, mais ce n'est pas mon avis", a déclaré l'égyptologue américain Bob Brierà NBCNews.com.”Le Monde (15 août 2012)Two unidentified, possible pyramid complexes“One of the complex sites contains a distinct, four-sided, truncated, pyramidal shape that is approximately 140 feet in width. This
site contains three smaller mounds in a very clear formation, similar
to the diagonal alignment of the Giza Plateau pyramids.The
second possible site contains four mounds with a larger,
triangular-shaped plateau. The two larger mounds at this site are
approximately 250 feet in width, with two smaller mounds approximately
100 feet in width. This site complex is arranged in a very clear
formation with the large plateau, or butte, nearby in a triangular shape
with a width of approximately 600 feet. (...)The
Egyptian sites have been sent to Egyptologists and researchers for
further investigation and “ground truthing”. Angela has stated, “The
images speak for themselves. It’s very obvious what the sites may
contain but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact,
pyramids and evidence should be gathered to determine their origins. It
is my hunch there is much more to these sites and with the use of
Infrared imagery, we can see the extent of the proposed complexes in
greater detail.” Google Earth Anomalies

"There is a slight chance that one or two could be pyramids” (Bob Brier)“The
first site, just 1.5 miles from the ruins of an ancient town called
Dimai, consists of a large, square formation and three (or possibly
more) smaller features. The smaller ones are roughly aligned with true
north, like the Giza pyramids, though the large one is conspicuously
off-axis.The
other potential discovery is about 12 miles from Abu Sidhum, a city on
the Nile. Its most prominent feature is a large, triangular plateau with
regular sides that have been severely eroded. The center of this
triangle has a pair of circular features that may have been wells or
mounds. (...)Egyptologist
Bob Brier, senior research fellow at the C.W. Post Campus of Long
Island University, said the claims were premature. "There is a slight chance that one or two could be pyramids, but it doesn't look like it to me," Brier wrote.Robert
Littman, an archaeologist from the University of Hawaii who is a
director of the Tell Timai excavation project in Egypt, agreed that it's
premature to say what the structures were – but said the Google Earth
imagery was nonetheless "very interesting.""It may well turn out to be a pyramid, but it may turn out to be another structure," he said in a telephone interview.The
process for registering and protecting such sites may mean that the
nature of these discoveries, if they are in fact discoveries, will not
be made public for some time. In the meantime, amateur Egyptologists can
continue scouring the area for more features by using the same method
Micol used : Google Earth.”Technolog“Almost three times the size of the Great Pyramid”“Two new pyramid complexes may have been discovered in a satellite survey of Egypt.The
potentially important sites, standing 90 miles apart, are made up of
unusual-shaped mounds, according to archaeology researcher Angela Micol.Ms Micol has spent the past 10 years searching for ancient sites from space using Google Earth.The first area stands in Upper Egypt, some 12 miles from the city of Abu Sidhum along the Nile.It includes a 620ft-wide triangular plateau - almost three times the size of the Great Pyramid."Upon
closer examination of the formation, this mound appears to have a very
flat top and a curiously symmetrical triangular shape that has been
heavily eroded with time," she said.There are also four mounds nearby - two around 250ft wide, and two 100ft wide.The
second site is 90 miles north, near the Faiyum Oasis, and 1.5 miles
south east of the ancient town of Dimai, and contains a four-sided shape
about 140ft wide."It
has a distinct square centre, which is very unusual for a mound of this
size and it almost seems pyramidal when seen from above," said Ms
Micol, from Maiden, North Carolina.The site also contains three smaller mounds "similar to the diagonal alignment of the Giza Plateau pyramids," she added."The
colour of the mounds is dark and similar to the material composition of
Dimai's walls which are made of mudbrick and stone."Archaeologists are examining the images and will visit the sites to explore further."The
images speak for themselves. It's very obvious what the sites may
contain, but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact,
pyramids," added Ms Micol, who has also found a possible underwater city
off the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.”Sky News

“Nothing to see here but a couple of big buttes”“If
Micol's blog is to be believed, Egyptologists have vetted and are
currently investigating her amazing discovery. "The images speak for
themselves. It's very obvious what the sites may contain but field
research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids," Micol wrote
on her blog.Turns out, further field research won't be necessary after all. These mounds are just your common buttes."It
seems that Angela Micol is one of the so-called 'pyridiots' who see
pyramids everywhere," said James Harrell, professor emeritus of
archaeological geology at the University of Toledo and a leading expert
on the archaeological geology of ancient Egypt. "Her Dimai and Abu
Sidhum 'pyramids' are examples of natural rock formations that might be
mistaken for archaeological features provided one is unburdened by any
knowledge of archaeology or geology. In other words, her pyramids are
just wishful thinking by an ignorant observer with an overactive
imagination." (...)The
large, three- and four-sided hills Micol chanced upon are geologic
features known as buttes, Harrell told Life's Little Mysteries. Commonly
seen in the local Faiyum Desert, such buttes form when a mound of
sediment contains a difficult-to-erode layer. When the surrounding
sediment gradually erodes, that resistant layer gets left on top, making
the hill flat.Meanwhile,
the smaller hills found in Micol's Google Earth screenshots are
circular, and thus nothing like pyramids, Harrell said. Other
geologists attribute the features to the forces of nature as well.
"What it looks like to me is an area where a resistant layer of stone is
underlain by soft rock, perhaps shales. If that is so, the triangular
one looks very much the sort of feature common in the U.S. southwest,
and might be called a butte," said Clair Ossian, a geoarcheologist at
Tarrant County College who has studied Egypt's sites.So
in summary, sorry folks : nothing to see here but a couple of big
buttes. The question is how they garnered so much breathless, and
factless, media attention.”Fox News

Egyptologists are skeptical “Micol
writes that she has confirmed that the sites were previously unknown
with Egyptologist Nabil Selim, who notes that their size is similar to
that of 13th Dynasty pyramids. She also says that next step will be to
investigate the sites in detail to identify them as pyramid structures.Egyptologists,
however, are skeptical of her claims. According to a report from
LiveScience, James Harrell, an archaeologist at the University of Toledo
and a specialist in Egyptian archeology, says, “Her Dimai and Abu
Sidhum ‘pyramids’ are examples of natural rock formations that might be
mistaken for archaeological features provided one is unburdened by any
knowledge of archaeology or geology. In other words, her pyramids are
just wishful thinking by an ignorant observer with an overactive
imagination.” Harrell identifies the structures as natural buttes,
commonly formed by desert winds.Egyptian pyramid building dates back as far as 2600 years B.C., and the land now hosts 138 known pyramids.”The Petri Dish“Some supposed finds of lost ruins on Google Earth, however, have failed to pan out”“Micol’s
claims reflect a growing trend of satellite archaeology being used by
both amateurs and professionals. For more than a decade, she has scanned
satellite images for possible evidence of lost ruins, and she touts
other finds including a potential underwater city off the coast of the
Yucatan Peninsula. Indeed, satellites have revealed lost pyramids in the
past. Recently, a team led by Egyptologist Sarah Parcak, an archaeology
professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, discovered 17
still-buried pyramids by studying infrared satellite images taken by
NASA and commercial satellites.Some
supposed finds of lost ruins on Google Earth, however, have failed to
pan out. The most notable was in 2009, when the lost city of Atlantis
was reportedly spotted on Google Earth 600 miles west of the Canary
Islands. It turned out the mysterious grid on the ocean floor was just a
computer error, which has subsequently been fixed.Micol
acknowledges that on-the-ground research will be necessary to confirm
whether her supposed finds are indeed ancient pyramids. “The images
speak for themselves,” she said. “It’s very obvious what the sites may
contain, but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact,
pyramids, and evidence should be gathered to determine their origins. It
is my hunch there is much more to these sites and with the use of
Infrared imagery, we can see the extent of the proposed complexes in
greater detail.”History.com